First up, a little about me. Or rather, the hair on my head. Bleached blonde (currently highlights, formally balayage), naturally fluffy curls (that I tend to blow-dry straight for ease and speed), fine and easily breakable (that’ll be the decades of bleach and heat styling at work), lacking in the shine department.
I’m lucky that in my job as a beauty director I get to try the latest and greatest launches (of which, there have been an impressive loot of late – check out our Hair Award Winners here) but there is one particular hair product that I come back to time and time again because – well – because it’s so bloody brilliant at restoring and reviving sad looking strands that I couldn’t be without it. All hail, Philip Kingsley Elasticizer, £19.
A cult classic for all the right reasons, PK Elasticizer has been around since 1982. 1982! There aren’t many products that can say they’ve been around (and stayed the same) for almost 40 years now, are there? And fun fact: Audrey Hepburn was involved in its initial conception, after she tasked Mr Kingsley to create a super hydrating mask formulation that would reboot her naturally fine hair without weighing it down. Fast forward to 2020 and one sells every single minute worldwide. But I digress…
How I use it: Created as a ‘pre-shampoo’ treatment, you’re supposed to smooth a hearty coating of the paraben-free formula onto damp hair, mid-lengths to ends, before popping on a shower cap (the heat this generates helps the product penetrate your hairs’ cuticles) and leaving it to do its thing for 20 minutes. Sometimes I’ll do it this way – mainly on a weekend when I have more time – but more often than not, I go for the long-haul approach. Recommended to me by super colourist, Sibi Nolan, I damp my hair and slap as much Elasitizer on as I can bear to part with. Next, I wait until it’s dried in a little, braid it to keep it out of the way and sleep in it. Bad(ish) for pillows, GREAT for hair.
The results: Come morning, after I wash it out and follow with my normal blow-dry routine, my hair has come back to life. No, scrap that, it’s taken on someone else’s life – someone with far better hair. Softer, so much more manageable, easier to brush through - it delivers the works, and one of the few things that genuinely gets me one step closer to Rosie Huntington Whiteley levels of shine.
The star ingredients:
Hydrolyzed Elastin: ‘A protein that penetrates your hair shaft and increases its elasticity without weighing your hair down. Elasticity is what gives your hair stretch and strength, so it will break less.’
Castor Oil: ‘This has the amazing hair health benefit of helping to lock in moisture.’
Olive Oil: ‘High in Vitamin E and essential fatty acids which moisturise and make your hair look shiny and healthy.’
Glycerin: ‘This helps your hair to retain moisture, which makes the effects last longer.’
(All quotes from Philip Kingsley’s website).
Celeb fans:
Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Georgia May Jagger, Renée Zellweger, Cate Blanchett, Rochelle Humes.
Shop Philip Kingsley Elasticizer here:
Philip Kingsley Elasticizer Deep-Conditioning Treatment
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